GAZETTE NOTICE NO. 1338

APPOINTMENT OF JUDICIARY COMMITTEE OF INQUIRY ON THE STATUS AND RECOVERY OF JUDICIARY LAND IN KENYA PILLAR 3 of the Judiciary Transformation Framework (JTF) emphasizes the commitment of the Judiciary to develop and establish physical infrastructure by ensuring the construction of court houses and residential facilities in all the 47 counties as this would ensure people centered expeditious delivery of justice. The said Pillar 3 is a derivative of article 6 (3) of the Constitution of Kenya, which on devolution and access to services enjoins the Judiciary, as a State Organ, to ensure reasonable.access to its services in all parts of the Republic. One of the major impediment and challenge faced by the Judiciary in its quest to establish the physical infrastructure is that the Judiciary does not have titles for most of the land it owns and where courts are built. Some of the properties owned by the Judiciary have been irregularly acquired and transferred to third parties whilst others have allotment letters and documentation of conveyances pending final transfers to the Judiciary. Rapacious asset stripping tendency has seen the Judiciary loose a number of its court houses, land, and residential property. The foregoing has made it necessary for the Judiciary to initiate its own countrywide inquiry into the land, buildings, and all property that Judiciary currently occupies, including cases where Judiciary has The Appointment takes effect from 16th July, 2015. The Committee's Terms of Reference will be as follows: (a)To identify and study all the conveyance documents relating to ownership of all Judiciary assets in terms of land, court buildings and residential property. (b)Engage with all the relevant public bodies such as theNational Land Commission, Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development, District Land Registries, County Governments (i.e. County Land Boards where established), County Executive (c)Committee Members of Land, Department of Survey and Mapping and Kenya National Archives, with a view to seeking information, documentation and records which may assist the Committee in its work. (d)Inquire into the unlawful allocation of Judiciary assets including land, court buildings and residential property. ascertaining the beneficiaries and identify any persons, judicial officers or staff, involved in such illegal allocations. (e)Review the reports of the various Commissions formed by the successive governments such as the Ndung'u Land Commission, Njonjo Land Commission etc, to ascertain and identify from the reports any Judiciary land which was irregularly acquired. (f)Engage and seek information from judicial officers, Judiciary heads of stations, and staff and study any case files or judicial decisions in respect of land matters where Judiciary is an - interested party. (g)Prepare a detailed • report on the legal status of all the land occupied by the Judiciary and its surrounding and determine which land, court buildings and residential property have titles. (h)To identify the land to be used for the construction of court buildings, residential houses and other amenities. (i)To develop an Asset Register of all Judiciary real property assets i.e. land, court houses and residential property owned and / or occupied by-the Judiciary. (j)To assist the Chief Registrar of the Judiciary in the recovery processes, conveyance and registration of the Judiciary land and assets. (k)Make recommendations to the Chief Justice for appropriate actions and measures for the restoration of illegally allocated lands to their proper purpose, for prevention of future illegal allocations and acquisition of Judiciary property. (/) To make recommendations to the Chief Justice for appropriate remedial measures or sanctions for those found culpable. (m)Develop modalities and with clear timelines for the implementation of the recommendations of the Committee. (n)Develop a Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) framework on the implementation of the recommendations of the Committee. (o)The Committee, with the approval of the Chief Justice, shall have powers to co-opt in its membership any person whose expertise or knowledge would be useful for the Committee to achieve its mandate. (p)The Committee shall have the powers to make its own rules of Procedure during the exercise. Dated the 29th February, 2016. (a) Convene stakeholders and practitioners in Alternative Justice System in order to map out and understand the prevalence of use of Alternative Justice System, its intersection with the Judicial System and the progress made in infusing it with national and constitutional values; (b)Undertake a situational analysis of any existing reports, manuals, guidelines, practice notes, legal provisions on mainstreaming Alternative Justice System; (c)In conjunction with the Judiciary Training Institute to pilot and bench-mark existing models of Court-Annexed Alternative Justice System, to capacitate them, observing them and document their functioning to glean best practices to be used to develop potential national model; (d)Work with any seconded Consultants to synthesize secondary and primary data collected to address the objectives of the policy formulation exercise; (e)Consolidate best practices from selected traditional justice systems of selected communities; (f)Highlight challenges and effects of inter-linkage between traditional justice systems and the formal justice system; (g)Consult with key stakeholders and recommend a linkage between traditional and informal Justice Systems and the formal justice systems; (h)Study best practices, formulate the policy on mainstreaming alternative techniques for reducing case backlog and produce a draft; (i)Develop a strategic plan to implement the policy; (j)Present the draft documents to key stakeholders within the justice sector through meetings and workshops and incorporate comments as necessary; and (k)Develop a National Model for Court-annexed traditional justice resolution mechanism for possible adoption. JTI will provide secretariat services to the Taskforce. The Taskforce is expected to deliver an initial report in June, 2016. Dated the 29th February, 2016. WILLY MUTUNGA ChiefJustice/President Supreme Court of Kenya.